Dental braces or retainers are used in orthodontics to align teeth and their position with regard to a person's bite. They are often used to correct malocclusions such as underbites, overbites, cross bites and open bites, or crooked teeth and various other flaws of teeth and jaws, whether cosmetic or structural. Dental retainers are often used in conjunction with other orthodontic appliances to widen the palate or jaws or otherwise shape the teeth and jaws. U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,774 to Chikami is directed to retainers that include a holding member and a supporting member or wire with the wire is positioned within the holding portion. The wire is retained within the holding member by a clasp type component.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,730 to Cleary is directed to an orthodontic force module for correcting Class II malocclusions and includes a resilient body and a coupling connected to the body for connecting the body to a selected orthodontic appliance located on the patient's upper jaw. The coupling includes an opening that extends in a reference plane substantially parallel to and preferably containing the longitudinal axis of the body. According to Cleary, the orientation of the opening provides freedom of movement of the force module when the patient's jaws are opened or closed and reduces the likelihood of fracture of the coupling. FIG. 11 of Cleary shows a coil or spring 23e placed within a sheath 38e or the sheath 38e injection molded around it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,313 to Cleary et al. is directed to a force module for moving individual malpositioned teeth or entire dental arches during orthodontic therapy. The module includes an elongated body with couplings at each end of the body for connection to selected orthodontic appliances. The module also includes couplings that have a sleeve portion for receiving end sections of the body and an arm portion connected to each sleeve portion, and the arm portions extend at an obtuse angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the body. FIG. 12 of Cleary shows a force module 510 that is encased at opposite ends in couplers 524, 526. Cleary et al. describes the couplers as being fixed to the force module using a variety of means, such as swaging, pinning, staking, or adhering with an adhesive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,614 to Tepper is directed to a removable orthodontic appliance that is seated on the teeth on each side at a midregion by clasps which provide a base for a label filament serving as a reference arch, and curved lingual spring filament which urges the teeth against the reference. The mountings for the filaments comprise open loops having filament receiving sleeves at each end by means of which the positions and angles of the filaments may be adjusted but the filaments may be coupled in solely by mechanical means. A retainer device may use synthetic resin filaments of transparent material to hold the teeth against relapse. The figures disclose clasps formed as tubes that encase the metal wire of the appliance. Tepper should not be an obstacle to obtaining a patent as it does not describe or suggest a coil or spring used to connect a polymer labial bow to a dental retainer by encircling the outer surface of the labial bow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,856 to Grussmark is directed to an orthodontic appliance for closing spaces between two adjacent teeth. The device disclosed includes a bar of elastomeric material or an elastic element and ligature wire means or an inelastic element for securing the bar in place over the labial or buccal or lingual faces of the teeth. The ligature wire means includes ligature wire secured to one or both ends of the bar for mounting and tensioning of the elastomeric bar on adjacent teeth. Grussmark discloses the end of the ligature wire as being coiled around itself to secure the wire in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,745 to Zurita is directed to an orthodontic appliance to provide normal alignment of the teeth. The orthodontic appliance includes a U-shaped band of flexible material having a pair of rearwardly extending arms where the U-shaped band conforms to the labial surface of the dental arch when in position in the mouth. It also includes a pair of anchors each of which is adapted to cooperate with a molar on opposite sides of the mouth to maintain the U-shaped band in position against the labial surface of the dental arch. The orthodontic appliance further includes a resilient member joining the anchors to the arms of the U-shaped band with the resilient member applying a biasing force to the labial surface of the dental arch through the U-shaped band. FIG. 3 of Zurita discloses elongated slide members 22 with protrusions 34 into which arms 14/42 are inserted to mount the U-shaped band to the slide members 22.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,900 to Orthwein discloses a removable dental restoration for filling an edentulous space defined at each end by a natural tooth, the restoration having at each end a means for resiliently gripping the adjacent natural tooth. In a first embodiment, the gripping means is releasable by application of opposing forces to the longitudinal side walls of the restoration. A second embodiment has the gripping means releasable by applying a simultaneous force to the end wall of each respective gripping means. Further embodiments also have gripping means releasable by application of opposing forces to the longitudinal side walls of the restoration, but the gripping means are formed separately from and attachable to the restoration. Orthwein discloses clasps and gripping means in his FIGS. 16-18.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,021 to Foxman discloses an adjustable attachment for a labial arch retainer. The retainer is of the type having a palatal section configured to conform to the roof of the mouth of a patient, a pair of extension wires extending anteriorally from the palatal section, an attachment hook provided at the terminal end of each extension wire, and a resilient synthetic band adapted to exert pressure against the teeth of the patient. The adjustable attachment is connected between the resilient band and the attachment hook in a manner which permits the length of the resilient band to be varied thereby permitting adjustment of the pressure exerted against the teeth of the patient. FIGS. 1 and 2 of Foxman show a connector 9 for connecting to a band 3. The connector includes arms 17/18 that fold over the band.
The disclosure of the above prior art references is incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.